---
title: «a whole hill of aspens and you're telling me it's one tree?? no way… — Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, w… · tree and pragmatics
description: «a whole hill of aspens and you're telling me it's one tree?? no way» What is right? Test 6 · ★★ of lesson 252 «Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and giant clones» of the biology course of Mova's primary school, with the dependency tree and pragmatics of the question and of each op
---

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# Test 6 · ★★ · Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and gi…

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
«a whole hill of aspens and you're telling me it's one tree?? no way» What is right?

<!-- .vintro -->
**Mova's choice:** option 3 · **The right answer:** option 2 · wrong ✗ · **Who acts:** you, whole hill, way · **What happens:** tell, be · **To what, where:** aspens, me, one tree · **Speech:** someone speaks here

<!-- .vabout -->
This is test 6 · ★★ of lesson 252 «Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and giant clones» of the biology course of Mova's primary school. The page gives the question's syntax tree — a dependency tree in the style of Universal Dependencies — and its pragmatics clause by clause, then the 4 options as the student saw them, each with its tree and pragmatics. Every text is parsed by Mova itself. How the student answered it, with the score of every option and why: [the test at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/biology/252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones/#t6).

## The question {#question}

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t6:1
# text = «a whole hill of aspens and you're telling me it's one tree?? no way» What is right?
1	«	«	PUNCT	``	_	15	punct	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
3	whole	whole	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	4	amod	_	_
4	hill	hill	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	nsubj	_	_
5	of	of	ADP	IN	_	6	case	_	_
6	aspens	aspen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	4	nmod	_	_
7	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	10	cc	_	_
8	you	you	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Person=2|PronType=Prs	10	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
9	're	be	AUX	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=2|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	10	aux	_	_
10	telling	tell	VERB	VBG	Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Part	6	acl	_	_
11	me	I	PRON	PRP	Case=Acc|Number=Sing|Person=1|PronType=Prs	10	iobj	_	_
12	it	it	PRON	PRP	Case=Nom|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|PronType=Prs	15	nsubj	_	SpaceAfter=No
13	's	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	15	cop	_	_
14	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	15	nummod	_	_
15	tree	tree	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
16	??	??	PUNCT	.	_	18	punct	_	_
17	no	no	DET	DT	PronType=Neg	18	det	_	_
18	way	way	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	15	obl:unmarked	_	SpaceAfter=No
19	»	»	PUNCT	''	_	18	punct	_	_
20	What	what	PRON	WP	PronType=Int	22	nsubj	_	_
21	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	22	cop	_	_
22	right	right	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	18	acl:relcl	_	SpaceAfter=No
23	?	?	PUNCT	.	_	15	punct	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **tell** *speech: assert* *in a quote* | present · progressive | you | aspens *not said here* | me |  |  |  | vn transfer\_mesg-37.1.1-1-1 «NP V NP.recipient»: agent=Agent i=Recipient |
| 2 | **is a** *in a quote* | present | a whole hill of aspens | one tree |  |  |  | no way *obl:unmarked* | tree rules |
| 3 | **is** | present | no way |  |  |  |  | right *property* | tree rules |

<!-- .note -->
One row per clause the reader finds. «not said here»: a role filled from the clause above. «roles by»: a VerbNet class and frame when one fits the verb, else the reader's rules on the tree.

## The options {#options}

### Option 1 {#o1}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, but only in fairy tales

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t6:o1:1
# text = Yes, but only in fairy tales
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	7	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	but	but	CCONJ	CC	_	7	cc	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	7	advmod	_	_
5	in	in	ADP	IN	_	7	case	_	_
6	fairy	fairy	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	7	compound	_	_
7	tales	tale	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	0	root	_	_
```

<!-- .note -->
The frames reader finds no event or fact in this sentence.

### Option 2 · ✓ the right answer {#o2}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
Yes, the trunks can share one root system and the same genes

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t6:o2:1
# text = Yes, the trunks can share one root system and the same genes
1	Yes	yes	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Pos	6	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	4	det	_	_
4	trunks	trunk	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	6	nsubj	_	_
5	can	can	AUX	MD	VerbForm=Fin	6	aux	_	_
6	share	share	VERB	VB	VerbForm=Inf	0	root	_	_
7	one	one	NUM	CD	NumForm=Word|NumType=Card	9	nummod	_	_
8	root	root	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	compound	_	_
9	system	system	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	6	obj	_	_
10	and	and	CCONJ	CC	_	13	cc	_	_
11	the	the	DET	DT	Definite=Def|PronType=Art	13	det	_	_
12	same	same	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	13	amod	_	_
13	genes	gene	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	9	conj	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **share** | can | the trunks | one root system and the same genes |  |  |  |  | tree rules |

### Option 3 · ← Mova's choice {#o3}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, every trunk is always a separate plant, grown from its own seed

<!-- fold The tree, 13 words -->
```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t6:o3:1
# text = No, every trunk is always a separate plant, grown from its own seed
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	9	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	every	every	DET	DT	PronType=Tot	4	det	_	_
4	trunk	trunk	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	9	nsubj	_	_
5	is	be	AUX	VBZ	Mood=Ind|Number=Sing|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	9	cop	_	_
6	always	always	ADV	RB	PronType=Tot	9	advmod	_	_
7	a	a	DET	DT	Definite=Ind|PronType=Art	9	det	_	_
8	separate	separate	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	9	amod	_	_
9	plant	plant	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	0	root	_	SpaceAfter=No
10	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	11	punct	_	_
11	grown	grow	VERB	VBN	Tense=Past|VerbForm=Part|Voice=Pass	9	acl	_	_
12	from	from	ADP	IN	_	15	case	_	_
13	its	its	PRON	PRP$	Case=Gen|Gender=Neut|Number=Sing|Person=3|Poss=Yes|PronType=Prs	15	nmod:poss	_	_
14	own	own	ADJ	JJ	Degree=Pos	15	amod	_	_
15	seed	seed	NOUN	NN	Number=Sing	11	obl	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **is a** | present | every trunk | a separate plant |  |  |  | always *property* | tree rules |
| 2 | **grow** | participle |  | a separate plant *not said here* |  |  |  | from trunk's own seed | vn grow-26.2.1 «NP.product V PP.patient»: agent=Product from seed=Patient |

### Option 4 {#o4}

<!-- .ven lang=en -->
No, aspens only grow alone

```conllu
# sent_id = question:biology:252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones:t6:o4:1
# text = No, aspens only grow alone
1	No	no	INTJ	UH	Polarity=Neg	3	discourse	_	SpaceAfter=No
2	,	,	PUNCT	,	_	1	punct	_	_
3	aspens	aspen	NOUN	NNS	Number=Plur	5	nsubj	_	_
4	only	only	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
5	grow	grow	VERB	VBP	Mood=Ind|Number=Plur|Person=3|Tense=Pres|VerbForm=Fin	0	root	_	_
6	alone	alone	ADV	RB	_	5	advmod	_	_
```

<!-- .fr -->
| # | verb | tense, mood | who | what, whom | to whom | where | when | other | roles by |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| 1 | **grow** | present | aspens |  |  |  |  | alone *property* | vn appear-48.1.1 «NP V»: agent=Theme |

<!-- div src -->

**Text:** the tests of Mova's primary school, written for Mova (`world/data/school/`), as the course runner gave them to the student. **Trees:** Mova's own parse — the `en` model on the CPU, when the site is built — not checked by a teacher; they may be wrong. **Frames:** Mova's frames reader (`prag`), each text read on its own. Elamur Cosmic License.

<!-- /div -->

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- ↑ back to [Plants deeper: do trees talk? Fungi, warning smells and giant clones](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/questions/biology/252-plants-deeper-do-trees-talk-fungi-warning-smells-and-giant-clones/)